WANTED, RURAL PLANS.
From every point of view we need rural or regional planning schemes. Every district council that will has the legal powers to save the countryside. Even in the decentralization of factories (an essentially wholesome movement) the same unreal conflict of interest is apparent. A whole village may suffer from smoke, noise, or more often from evil smells and get no redress, because of the cry that the protestanti are interfering with business, with industry. The argument is prevalent and usually prevails that nothing can be done till the evil is in existence, by which time, of course, money has been spent and the evil is established. It should be regarded as the standard job of each county council and each group of district councils to make a design into which the ambition's both of speculative builders and of factory migrants should fit. Such organization and forethought would in the long run do good service both to the industry and the village community. For example, instances are on record where the whole work of a rural factory has been compulsorily arrested because its effluents polluted a river. The purity of rivers, the health and comfort of rural dwellers, the attractive appearance of a village or countryside are all of importance and with due foresight may be preserved intact without any interference with industrial or building activity.
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